One of the only outstanding gardens built during the Mughal sovereignty in the once-majestic city of Lahore, Shalimar Gardens were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1981 beside with Lahore Fort. It was custom-built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century and is reflected one of the top traveler charms in Punjab. The design of these gardens, also known as Shalimar Bagh among the locals, was profoundly influenced by the Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir, which were built by Emperor Jahangir, Shah Jahan’s processor and father.

The attractive garden, which is among the most widespread picnic spaces in Lahore, is situated nearly 5 kilometer away from the Hedged City of Lahore. The site of the gardens initially belonged to the Arain Main family, who were settled the custodianship of the beautiful majestic garden by the emperor. Shalimar Gardens endured under the governance of Arain Main family for over 350 years before it was state-owned in 1962 by General Ayyub Khan.

These are two masterworks from the time of the dazzling Mughal civilization, which grasped its loftiness during the supremacy of the Emperor Shah Jahan. The fortification covers marble palaces and Masjids ornamented with montages and gold-plated. The stylishness of these impressive gardens, constructed near the city of Lahore on three porches with gatehouses, cascades and large decorative pools, is unrivalled.

The adorned property includes two different royal developments, the Lahore Fortification and the Shalimar Gardens, both situated in the City of Lahore, at a reserve of 7 km. from each other. The two developments – one categorized by colossal structures and the other by widespread water gardens - are unresolved examples of Mughal creative look at its height, as it changed during the 16th and 17th periods. The Mughal civilization, a union of Islamic, Farsi, Hindu and Mongol sources (from whence the name Mughal derives) conquered the Indian subcontinent for numerous periods and strongly prejudiced its following development.

The Lahore Fort, located in the north-west angle of the Walled City of Lahore, inhabits a place which has been engaged for several millennia. Presumptuous its present outline during the 11th era, the Fort was demolished and reconstructed numerous times by the early Mughals during the 13th to the 15th periods. The 21 memorials which endure inside its limitations include an unresolved staging of the procedures of Mughal building from the supremacy of Akbar (1542-1605), branded by consistent stonework of parched brick and red stonework courses reassured by Hindu themes counting zoomorphic corbels, finished that of Shah Jahan (1627-58), categorized by the use of contented marbles, pieces of valuable resources and medleys, set inside enthusiastic ornamental themes of Farsi roots.

The presence by the World Heritage Board of the originally distinct Lahore Fort and the Shalimar Gardens proposals in a single adorned property in 1981 widened  the variety of strategy terminologies - from epic structures to aquatic gardens - representative Mughal inventive and artistic attainments encompassed in the land, and improved the overall reliability of the home. Both of the expansions in the engraving as they continue today are complete in and of themselves; the Lahore Fort multifaceted includes all 21 living memorials within the distinct Fort limitations, and the Shalimar Gardens comprises all of the var

Though the unplanned eradication of 2 of the 3 hydraulic workings and connected walls of the Shalimar Gardens in 1999 for spreading the Grand Trunk Road from Lahore to Mughal meaningfully stained the honor of the Gardens, and the land was placed on the World Heritage List in Danger in 2000. Comprehensive investigation at the time also exposed substantial worsening of some component memorials and thoughtful inner-city infringements distressing some constructions. While corrective preservation exertions since 2000 have increasingly lectured overhaul desires of distinct shrines, these have not attentive on restoration of hydraulic systems or mechanisms.

Actions to recover property honesty have been recognized which include alliance and defense of injured water tanks, defense of external walls for both developments, major asset in promotion of memorials and topographies within both developments, postponement  of adorned regions and buffer regions to better defend the Unresolved Universal Worth of the two developments and their settings, thought of inclusion of adjacent memorials inside the writing, and removal of the urban infringements and improved switch of urban pressures (including tourist bus parking).

The land in over-all upholds the reliable design, forms, design and substance of both developments and the basic layouts, rudiments and topographies related with the Mughal creative and appealing terminologies of the 16th and 17th century. Upholding legitimacy of workmanship demands that fashionable repair and preservation work use and recover old-style techniques and resources.

Though genuineness of purpose and of location has been worn over time: the innovative function of these royal developments has been replaced by public visitation and tourism, and the larger setting of both complexes now accommodates the transportation movement and useful requirements of the modern city of Lahore.

Defense and organization requirements

The World Legacy land is safe under the Antiquities Act (1975), managed until 2005 by the Section of Archaeology, Pakistan. At that time, organization accountability for the land was substitute from the national smooth to the provincial level; and the Executive General of Archaeology, Punjab took on overall accountability for land management. The DGoA,P is occupied within the strategies placed dejected in the two Master Plans recognized for Lahore Castle and the Shalimar Gardens, and with project funding made accessible by the Government of Punjab in a “Five Year Programmed for Protection and Refurbishment of Lahore Fort” and a “Five Year Programmed for the Preservation and Restoration of Shalimar Gardens” launched in 2006-2007. The DGoA,P, P remnants also existence maintained in its organization exertions by a Direction-finding Group to guide operation of planned projects, a Technical Group to oversee preservation activities and to grow a “conservation plan” on the basis of significances recognized in the Master Plans, and a Punjab Legacy Substance to effort to provide an enduring cause of subsidy.

Shalimar Gardens in Lahore is one of the most attractive examples of landscape gardening, workmanship and engineering from the Mughal age. It is banquet over 16 hectares of land and built in the style of Persian paradise gardens, well-thought-out a “microcosm of an earthly utopia” as per the historiographers. The gardens feature several stages, which each of them approximately 13 to 15 feet higher than the former one.

The upper terrace is shaped like a rectangular and is called Bagh-e-Farah Baksh and structures 105 fountains. The second and third terraces are known as the Bagh-e-Faiz Baksh, including 152 and 153 fountains correspondingly. The second terrace is shaped like a slight rectangle while the third terrace mirrors the topmost in its shape.

Location: Shalimar Chowk, G. T. Road, Shalimar Town, Lahore.

Timings: 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Entry Fee: PKR 20